Piccolo Sogno in Chicago

There are two ways that a restaurant or wine bar can make a great wine list: You can scour the regions of the world to find representative wines from each region or you can pick a region and do a deep dive. Bistrot Lepic does the latter with their excellent selection of French wines.

But it is rare to a list as comprehensive as the wine list at Piccolo Sogno. The wine list contains more than 500 bottles, all from Italy or Sicily. I am not an expert on Italian wines, but he looked to have at least a dozen bottles from each region and the waitstaff is excellent at guiding diners through the wine list and helping them pick a wine.

We were in the mood for Nebbiolo that night and started the evening off with a bottle of Renato Ratti Nebbiolo d'Alba Ochetti and then we switched to a bottle of the La Spinetta Langhe Nebbiolo, both wines from the Piedmonte region, but with very different character.

The d'Abla Ochetti was a lighter wine, perfect with the Buratto Con Culatello (I love the fact that they cut their prosciutto right there on the floor:



The La Spinetta Langhe Nebbiolo, was heavier, though it still possessed the berry character of a good Nebbiolo and it went very well with the Strozzapreti and the absolutely phenomenal "Sapore" Di Mare.

Chicago is a city that loves its food. There are so many great restaurants that it is impossible to visit them all during the few times a year I am out there, Piccolo Sogno is one of the great ones. I am not the only one who thinks so, it was voted Best Wine List by the people of Chicago (well, at least the people who took the survey).